Weekly Happenings January 25-31

1.  Austin turned one month old on Sunday.  This makes me happy because the older he gets, the more he sleeps, but it also makes me so sad how fast he's growing!  Here's my favorite snapshot of him this week!

2.  Austin had his first official tummy time!  I'd say it was a success!

3.  We got Harry a kitty water fountain.  We are fairly certain he has kidney issues like Holeshot had (but I have no plans of spending several hundred dollars to confirm that).  Staying hydrated is the best way to manage the disease and since he only drinks water out of the sink, we felt like he needed it.  It was $30 and he loves it.  He's started acting more like his old self and I credit the kitty fountain for making him feel better!

4. Seeing my kids play together and snuggle together warms my heart like nothing else!  They all got along so well this week.

5.  I found this heart shaped felt garland at the Dollar Tree!  It feels really festive to me!

Austin is 1 month old!

Where has the time gone?! Austin turned one month old yesterday.  I was gifted some 1-12 month onesies from my friend Amy, so you can expect to see a monthly picture of this cutie!

Here's his 1 month pics!

Right now, he takes 6oz of Gentlease Enfamil every 3 hours.  He sleeps 3-4 hours at night between bottles.  He eats and goes right back to sleep, which I'm very thankful for.  I'm notorious for falling asleep when I have him on my shoulder and I'm trying to burp him.  He has a very quiet cry and doesn't get too worked up about anything.  He loves laying on me and falling asleep.  I think I love the cuddling more than he does though.  He is starting to focus his little eyes on things.  He's a big fan of my colored picture frame collage and the quilt on the back of the couch.  He loves the one on one time when the other kids go to bed.  He's usually awake 2 times a day for 2-3 hours each time. He naps in his swing during the day and sleeping in his crib at night.

Allie still refers to Austin as "the new boy" and Krissy still thinks he's just another baby doll (she likes to try and feed him when I'm not looking and she gives and takes his paci away countless times a day).  Hayden is the best pair of extra hands a momma could ask for!  The dog tries to give him kisses any chance she gets!  Harry just seems annoyed someone else needs my attention because he wants it all!

One month seems like an eternity ago.  It's hard to remember what life was like without him.  I'm trying to soak up every minute with him every chance I get!

Weekly Happenings: January 18-24

1.  Krissy had an appointment with an allergist this week.  Since she was 10 months old, she's had some issues with food, especially dairy milk.  We had her tested for the 8 main foods people are allergic to (milk, egg, tree nut, peanut, soy, fish, shellfish, and wheat) and they account for 90% of all food allergies.  We are so glad she tested negative to all 8!  The doctor thought our next stop would be a pediatric GI, but I think we are going to hold off for now.  She hasn't had any stomach problems lately!

She played through most of her testing!

We all enjoyed the aquarium in the lobby!

2.  Normally my idea of "doing" the girls hair is putting a bow or clip in it.  Krissy's hair is just now getting a little length so I decided last weekend to actually do their hair! Little piggies for Krissy and braided pony tails for Allie!

3.  My mom had pinned a headboard similar to this on Pinterest.

I fell in love with the idea and immediately checked Craigslist to see if I could find an old door to replicate the project.  I did!!! Kevin called the guy and went and picked it up just hours after I saw the ad! He also got a little history lesson on where the door came from.... a house in the 1800s!  I have no idea when we will start on this project but I'm so excited to see it all done!!!

4.  I tried a vegetable soup recipe from Pinterest that my whole family enjoyed!  I made several changes to suit my taste buds, and it was really good!  Ill post the recipe soon!

5.  Krissy has been a little fussy pants the last several weeks.  She had a right ear infection two weeks ago and did a round of antibiotics.  We went in this week to recheck the ear.  I assumed it had cleared but the doc let me know she had a pretty bad double ear infection.  Poor girl!  She had been saying "owwie" a lot and I just wrote it off as new teeth.  We are trying a new, stronger antibiotic in hopes that will clear her up!

Hoping to see more smiles and less tears this week!

Weekly Happenings: January 11-17

1.  Kevin went back to work this week.
We were all slightly bummed about it because we loved having him home.  We are making progress on finding our new routine.  Seems like everything has changed a bit (morning routine, school routine, bedtime routine, etc,)

2.  I did a little thrifting to start the week off.  Normally I find a few things, but I found a ton this time!

3. My friend Sarah and her kids were in town and came by for the evening.  My kids love playing with her kids and I love talking and catching up with Sarah!  We had a great night and look forward to seeing them again soon!

4.  I captured these cute faces that Austin made!  He turned 3 weeks old this week!  He's still a great baby and I'm loving the fact he's not been a spitter-upper like both girls were!

5. I kept up with all my cleaning and laundry this week!  I can't call it nesting anymore but I'm glad I still have the desire to keep the house clean and tidy! Don't be fooled though... I spend a lot of my day doing this.....

Loving on my little man! (And the other kids.)  I wouldn't trade this season of life for anything!

Sticky Residue Remover

I have been needing to buy some residue remover to get all the sticky spots off my new picture frames.  I kept forgetting to add it to my Walmart list, and we had company today and I knew I needed to get it off before our guests arrived.  I turned to Pinterest to see if they had any great ideas with ingredients I had here at home.  One caught my eye... Peanut butter!

I read the article and it recommended taking off as much of the paper (price tag) as possible, then smear the peanut butter over the sticky area.  Wait 15 minutes then wipe off and clean with a windex type spray.  The lady said she had used jiffy and trader joes peanut butter and both gave her a perfect result.  I only had Peter Pan but I was anxious to try it! 

Here are my results:

Ta-da!  It worked perfectly!!!  It's as easy and it looks and sounds!  Give it a try!

Weekly Happenings January 4-10

1. Hayden started school back up.  We had planned on taking a break until the 20th, but we are trying to find a new routine and decided to go ahead and jump back in to the swing of things on Monday.

2.  Krissy had her 15 month checkup this week.  I was looking forward to it because I thought she had gained some weight!  I was wrong. She's 19lbs 10oz and that's 25th percentile. She's still a tall girl (79th percentile).  We also found out she has another blasted right ear infection.  She just can't seem to keep that ear clear. 

3.  I'm really really going to miss having Kevin home with us!!!  He's helped out SO much the last few weeks!  I don't think I've touched a dish since coming home from the hospital, and he's usually the one getting meals ready for us to eat.  He has also led the bedtime routine because I'm usually feeding Austin then.  Ontop of those things, he's managed to get a lot of projects done around the house!  One of our biggest projects was securing all our furniture to the walls so it can't fall over.  If you are wondering why that's important, grab a box of tissues and read this article.  Its important if you have kids or have kids that come to your house! http://lovelightlaughterandchocolate.blogspot.com/2012/12/be-with-me-just-for-today.html

He's also started painting my wooden bear, he built crawl dad traps, gave the dog a bath (that's a big task!), and hung pictures for me!  We are just getting started hanging things!  I have a stack of pictures left to hang (I just have to figure out where I want them)!

4.  A sweet friend gave me a giftcard to Lisa Leonard Designs for my birthday.  Right after Christmas I placed an order for a necklace and it just came in the mail yesterday! I LOVE it and can't wait to wear it!

5. Kevin and I had a scaled back date night this week.  We put the kids to bed at 8 sharp and watched Fast and Furious 6.  It wasn't exactly a romantic chick flick, but we enjoy any one on one time we can get these days!

Austin's {at home} Newborn Photo Shoot

One of my favorite hobbies is photography.  I am very much a beginner, and I know nothing about editing photos.  With that said, I still really wanted to take a morning {before the baby acne and peeling} and photograph my new little guy.  Kevin entertained the other three kiddos, and I spent about an hour moving and posing and photographing Austin :)

I attempted to edit some of my favorites with an editing program I bought last year.  Here are my favorites!

Weekly Happenings December 28 - January 3

1.  We got to bring little Austin home from the hospital.  We didn't stay home long though.  3 hours later, we packed up the family and headed to church.  It's our routine to go on Saturday nights, so I figured we'd start little Austin early! 

Big sis was anxious to hold him when we got home!

2.  We rang in the new year very low key!  We had dinner brought to us that evening and the kids were in bed at 8:30, Kevin followed them to bed around 9:30, and I rang in 2014 with my new little guy!

We watched the ball drop together!

3.  I told Kevin just a few days ago, we seemed to really have our baby routine figured out.  With the first three, we struggled to find a nightly routine that worked well for everyone.  Kevin and I are splitting up nightly baby duty - I take the first shift {usually from 10-2:30}, then Kevin takes the second shift {2:30-7ish}.  We usually both end up getting an hour or so nap during our shift, and we can function and stay productive during the day!  I'm so thankful he's here, and so willing to help!

4.  We got our Christmas decorations down.  I didn't put up as much as I normally would, and it only took about 90 minutes to get everything packed back up!  Now my house looks naked.  I'll have to find some pretty decorations for my mantle to liven things up a bit!

5.  I had a mini newborn photo shoot with Austin on Wednesday!  I did this with Krissy, and was so glad I did.  Kevin knows how important pictures are to me, so he let me have as much time as I wanted to snap pictures of Austin!  I'm thrilled with how photogenic he was for me :)  Stay tuned this coming week to see my favorite pictures I took of him!
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Other fun things and snapshots throughout the week:
*  Austin turned one week old on Thursday!
*  I sent out birth announcements to Aunts/Uncles and long time family friends this week.
*  We have had several meals brought to us this week, and it has been such a blessing!
*  Austin's jaundice levels were elevated the first few days we were home and started going down on Monday!  Woo hoo for no more foot pricks!